The Martyrs of la Florida

"Florida which has been bedewed in the East and in the West, in the North and in the South with the purest blood of the Martyrs!"

--Bishop Augustin Verot, Florida's first resident bishop, August 1858

 

       There are fifty-four martyrdom events under investigation.  Some events have one martyr and some have many.  All were killed in the evangelization of the region of our nation’s land known as la Florida.  It is a seamless story that began in 1549 with the courageous landing of the Dominicans in Tampa Bay – and ended in 1761 in Pensacola as three Apalachee Indians were killed trying to protect the Eucharist. 

    There are three things you should know before you read about these holy men, women and children.

1.  This list is not final as research is ongoing.  Each proposed martyr’s cause must be supported in light of the formal and material elements of martyrdom and the strength of the testimony of the witnesses to the martyrdom.  The documentary evidence must be verified and certain. The historians must then testify to the Tribunal concerning each proposed martyr.

2.     The Church requires that all documents remain sealed while the martyrdoms are investigated. Therefore, there are uncited quotes pending verification by the historians; the documents and their sources may not be released until the Church has completed her investigation.

3.     A note about the “anonymous martyr”:  The Church may canonize an individual whose name is unknown, if he or she and the martyrdom is otherwise known.  However, if the ‘anonymous martyr’ is known by a number or name only, this is not enough information for the Church to canonize.  There are many people who died for the Faith in la Florida, especially the Apalachee people, who will not be in the cause.  The reason is that they are  “anonymous”

I  The Protomartyrs 

Although diocesan priests ministered in Florida from an early date, the protomartyrs were members of three great religious orders: the Dominicans, the Jesuits, and the Franciscans. The Dominicans, who had long been active in New Spain, were rebuffed when they attempted to establish a peaceful mission near Tampa Bay in 1549. The Jesuits, who were recruited by the adelantado Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, the founder of St. Augustine, had a brief, bloody, but glorious tenure in Florida (1566–1572). Their missions stretched around the peninsula of Florida and even up to the Chesapeake Bay. The first Franciscans arrived in Florida in 1573, and over the next two centuries they tirelessly ministered to the indigenous population throughout northern Florida, eventually building a string of missions that stretched from St. Augustine to Pensacola. But in 1597 five Franciscans on the coastal islands of present-day Georgia perished for the faith as a result of a native uprising.      

• Fr. Luis Cáncer, OP and Companions, June 20 and 26, 1549 Tampa Bay (Event 1)
• Fr. Pedro Martínez, SJ, October 6, 1566, Jacksonville (Event 2)
• Fr. Segura, SJ and Companions February 1571, Ajacán (Richmond, VA) (Event 3)
• Fr. Pedro de Corpa, OFM, September 1597, Guale (Savannah) (Event 4)

   
 

• Fr. Marcos Garcés OFM, May 1604, Apalachee Province (Tallahassee) (Event 5)
• Fr. Vincent Ferrer de Andrade, OFM, 1611, Suwannee River (Event 6)
• The 1647 Revolt, Apalachee Province (Event 7)

 

III East Florida: Early Attacks

       Concentrated attacks on the Franciscan missions in the eastern part of la Florida led to several martyrdoms in the latter part of the seventeenth and the first decade of the eighteenth century. Two of these martyrs were Franciscan priests: Fr. Luis Sánchez, who was killed in one of the southernmost Franciscan missions, and Fr. Agustín Poncé de Leon, a native of St. Augustine. The other martyrs in this group were native converts, killed because they would not renounce the faith. Some of these attacks resulted from the growing English presence to the north and by the growing demand for slave labor. Slave raiders saw the Franciscan missions as prime targets.

• Timucuan Poisoning, June 20, 1661, Santo Domingo (Savannah) (Event 8)
• Fr. Sánchez OFM and Two Altar Servers, October 29, 1696 (central Florida) (Event 9)
• Cipriano and Alberto, April 7, 1698, Santa Rosa de Ivitanayo (Event 11)
• Mariana, Jacinto, November 5 or 6, 1702, Mocama Province (Event 13)
• Christian Natives, Luis and Companions, November 14, 1702, near St. Augustine (Event 14) 
• Fr. Agustín Ponce de Leon, OFM, and Companions, September 3, 1705, north of St. Augustine (Event 30)
• Don Patricio de Hinachuba and Companions, April 28, 1706, St. Augustine (Event 34)

 

• Gerardo, Eufemio, and Mario, April 6, 1697, (Jefferson Co.) (Event 10)
• Eight Apalachee Converts, Summer 1702, Aquirita (Event 12)
• Marcos, Mateo, and Prudencio, 1703, Apalachee Province (Event 15)
• Antonio Cuipa and Companions, January 26, 1704, Apalachee Province (Event 16)
• Samuel and Eliseo, January 26 - February 15, 1704, Apalachee Province (Event 17)
• Benigno, Jose, Antonio, and Alberto, January 26 - February 18, 1704, Apalachee Province (Event 18)
• Cacica Maria and Companions, early 1704, Apalachee Province (Event 19)
• English witness testifies to Apalachee martyrdom events, following January assault on Ayubale, 1704 (Events 20 & 21)
• Manuel, early 1704, Apalachee Province (Event 22)
• Apalachee massacre witnessed by women and children hiding in Tallahassee vicinity, 1704 (Event 23)
• Apalachee Chiefs named as martyrs (Event 24)
• Jose Anchieta OFM, 1704 or 1705 (Event 25)
• Fr. Manuel de Mendoza, OFM, June 23, 1704, Apalachee Province (Event 26)
• Baltasar Francisco, July 4, 1704, Apalachee Province (Event 27)
• San Pedro and San Mateo, Chiefs, 1705 (Events 28 & 29)
• Fr. Domingo Criado, OFM, early 1706, south of St. Augustine (Event 33)
• Apalachee martyrs in Charleston, SC 1704-1706 (Event 35)
• Fr. Tiburcio OFM, March 1707, St. Augustine (Event 36)

 

V  Pensacola:  Early 

       Evidence indicates that Franciscans and laypersons died as martyrs in and around Pensacola in the first decade of the eighteenth century. These missionaries were proclaiming the Gospel to the Mobila Indians.

• Fr. Pedro OFM, and Fr. Lucio, OFM, early 1706, Pensacola (Event 31)
• Antonio, Francisco, Lazaro, and Companion, 1706, Mobile (Event 32)

 

VI  St. Augustine: Middle

       During the second and third decades of the eighteenth century several Franciscans and native converts suffered martyrdom in or around St. Augustine at the hands of hostile native tribes. Noteworthy is the presence of two 3rd order Franciscans, who were attacked and killed while teaching catechism in a chapel.​

• Two third order Franciscans from Cuba, and two Indian converts, October 8, 1712, near St. Augustine (Event 37)
• Married couple, Franciscan friar.  March 1719. St. Augustine Apalachee (Event 38)
• Two Franciscans and an Apalachee man, unknown location likely not far from S. Augustine, April 1719 (Event 39)
• All Saints Day Massacre, St. Johns River, November 1, 1725 (Event 40)

VII  Nombre De Dios (St. Augustine): Palmer Invasion

       Three martyrdom events are associated with the raid of Col. John Palmer, a member of the Carolina House of Commons, who in March 1728 attacked the Yamasee town of Nombre de Dios, located on the northern edge of St. Augustine. Palmer killed thirty Yamasee and took fifteen prisoners. He also set fire to the chapel and the convent.

• Juan Yustegue and Companions, November 12, 1727, St. Augustine (Event 41)
• Joseph, December 16, 1728, St. Augustine (Event 42)
• Yamasee martyrdom, Felipe and companions. March 9, 1728. Nombre de Dios. St. Augustine (Event 43)

 

VIII  St. Augustine: Olgethorpe

       These events involve attacks to the Catholic missions in and around St. Augustine, where many native converts had sought refuge from other regions of la Florida. Some of these events are associated with the siege of St. Augustine conducted by James Oglethorpe of the newly-founded colony of Georgia. These excruciating incidents reveal the depth of the Catholic faith among many native peoples in Florida.

• Two Franciscans and native translator, July 1738, along El Camino from St. Augustine (Event 44)
• Juan Bautista, September 3, 1739, south of St. Augustine (Event 45)
• Chief Felipe, Anselmo and Morillo, October 11, 1739 (Event 46)
• Three native men near Nombre de Dios, May 1740, St. Augustine  (Event 47)    
• Eladio and Roberto, July 22, 1740, St. Augustine (Event 48)

 

IX  St. Augustine: Late

       These two events indicate that hostility to Franciscan missionary activity persisted well into the latter half of the eighteenth century.

• Don Gonzalez and Companions, May 23, 1759, St. John's River (Event 49)
• Fr. Lucas de León, OFM, May 25, 1759, between Gainesville and St. Augustine (Event 50)

       The last reports of martyrdom emerge from Spanish missionary activity in the far western panhandle of Florida and in present-day Alabama.

• Antonio the Blessed and Companions, March 22, 1760, Pensacola (Event 51)
• Reported martyrdoms associated with Punta Rosa near Pensacola Bay, April 1761 (Events 52 and 54)
• Elpidio Jose, Alberto and Matias el Chico, April 7, 1761, Pensacola (Event 53)

 

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Fr. Luis Cáncer, OP and Companions, June 20 and 26, 1549 Tampa Bay:                
Names:               Fr. Luis Cáncer, O.P. (Barbastro or Zaragossa),
                             Fr. Diego de Tolosa, O.P.
                             Bro. Fuentes, O.P.
Date:                   June 20 and 26, 1549
Place:                  Tampa Bay  
Timucuan Poisoning, June 20, 1661, Santo Domingo (Savannah)
Names:               Martín, Lázaro, Enrique, Pablo, Josefa, Matilde, Mariana, Victoria,
                             Prudencia (a girl), Antonico, Andrés, Miguel,
                             and 6 others (Timucua)                    

Date:                   June 20, 1661
Place:                  Santo Domingo de Talaje (present Fort King George) near Darien, GA
                            
Medicine men of the Westos tribe killed a group of Christian Timucuan men, women and children in a tragic and macabre event in 1661. The medicine men taunted the Christians and told them that they would “experience the pain of hell” before dying. They poisoned them with poisonous arrow tips. 
 
“…two witch doctors or medicine men of the Chichimechos, who were recognized from their appearance—the feathers and paintings they were wearing—entered the hut where those who bled to death were. He said that others accompanied them—bowmen—who were carrying their arrows and spears; and many shouts were heard; and those who were seized were begging by God, Our Lord, and by the Most Holy Virgin, that they not kill them; and that in this situation these Chichmecos Indians merely laughed at them and told them that very soon they would depart for Heaven; and then the two witch doctors or medicine men left the hut, and the bowmen stayed behind; and nothing else happened; then the bowmen went away, and some time afterward the two Indians Ángel and Casualta entered and saw the dead persons; and they observed that they did not have visible wounds; their bodies were full of blood, in all parts, as if they had burst, but, as he said, there were no wounds.The older Indian, Casualta, said the same thing, and he added that they heard something that sounded like a groan or shouts of pain or of prayers. And then the medicine men of the Chichimecos left, and then the rest of the enemies, and then all was silence.”


Fr. Sánchez OFM and Two Altar Servers, October 29, 1696 (central Florida)
Names:              Fr. Luis Sánchez y Pacheco, OFM (Havana, born in 1668),
                             two young (Aypaja) Indian Altar Servers (one a cacique)               
Date:                   October 29, 1696
Place:                Jororo Province, Central Florida (Mission of San Salvador de Moyaca)
At 24 years-old, Fr. Sanchez was ordained a Franciscan priest in Havana.  He was zealous, joyful and a member of the choir.  He longed to serve in the Florida missions.   His prayer was answered and he was sent to serve at Mission San Luis in Apalachee (Tallahassee).  
 
A missionary was later requested to serve in the Mission in Jorroro Province (central Florida) where there was danger and unrest.  Fr. Sanchez volunteered to go “with great joy.”
 
A revolt began in the nearby village, and Atoyquime natives came to kill Fr. Sanchez.  Fr. Sanchez’s servers for Mass were two young Aypaja natives, one an Indian chief. Finding the native altar boys with Father, the assailants told the young Indian chief that he must renounce his faith and kill the friar. He would do neither. Both boys were killed.
 
The assailants tied Father to a tree and pulled the cross from his neck.  Taunting him, they told him to ask the cross to save him.  Father asked that the cross be brought near him, and when it was, he kissed it.“ And that then the Father Fr. Luis Sánchez told them that he forgave them, because Jesus Christ always forgave, and that this his religion was the one of forgiveness…”


Cipriano and Alberto, April 7, 1698, Santa Rosa de Ivitanayo
Names:                Cipriano (Timucuan man, entering the Franciscans as a third order brother)
                              Alberto (Timucuan man, husband and father)
Date:                     April 7, 1698    
Place:                   Santa Rosa de Ivitanayo (Timucua doctrina located between St. Johns                                          River  and Gainesville)                                   
 Cipriano and Alberto were “two atiquis of great faith and zeal for sharing the light of the Gospel and the doctrine to the other Indians, their brethren”. On April 7 ^th, 1698, over two dozen Creek attacked and destroyed  their doctrina, and coming upon Cipriano and Alberto in the chapel, demanded that they disown their Christianity. They said that they “wouldn’t do such a thing, as they were sons of God, Our Lord.”  Cipriano and Alberto were killed with arrows and clubs.

Mariana, Jacinto, November 5 or 6, 1702, Mocama Province
Names:               Mariana Viuda (Timucuan daughter of cacique)
                             Jacinto (her son, about nine years old)
                             35 companions at the mission
Date:                    November 5 or 6, 1702
Place:                  San Juan del Puerto, Mocama Province The native people of San Juan del Puerto faced a surprise attack alone. The Creek assault on the peaceful mission resulted in the death or enslavement of almost all the natives of this Mission. 
“…they kept asking the Indians whether they believed in their ancient [ancestral] religion. But all were baptized converts, and on realizing this the Creeks told them that if they too did not want to die there, they should renounce their Catholic religion and customs and spit on the Cross…

"Thirty-five of the forty-five villagers refused to spit on the cross and instead accepted torture and martyrdom on a bonfire burning with crosses.  The assailants seized the daughter of the Indian chief, the young mother and widow Mariana, along with her 9-year-old son.   Mariana, renowned for her holiness and charity, along with her son Jacinto, refused to spit on the cross.
“…they could not do such a thing, she said, because such a denial was tantamount to destroying her heart, because for her this Cross and her heart were the same…”

The Creek first tortured and killed the son in front of the mother.  Mother and son prayed the rosary together through it all.

“…but such was the holiness of this young boy that in the face of this tortuous plight he was praying his  Ave Marias and the entire holy rosary that he knew so well. And his mother was praying the entire time along with him.  He kept praying the entire time until, being in the throes of death, he was unable to do so.  But neither the boy nor the Indian Mariana wavered.  They never lost their faith and their hope in the resurrection and the life everlasting.”


Christian Natives, Luis and Companions, November 14, 1702, near St. Augustine
Names:                  Luis
                               Alberto
                               Manuel
                               Marcos
                               Pablo
                               up to 23, but rest are anonymous
Date:                     November 14, 1702
Place:                   Quebira (or Quibira), near St. Augustine
 
During the 1702 siege of St. Augustine, four English and about one hundred Creek, conducted a slave raid on the nearby village of Christian Indians of Quibira. They plundered and burned a village, including a chapel that the Indians had constructed with their own hands.
 
The raiders nabbed fifty Indians to take away into slavery. One of the captives, Luis, about 40 years old, declared that he would not go, because to leave the land is to leave the sacraments, including confession.   Up to twenty others followed Luis and also refused to leave, including Alberto, Manuel, Marcos and Pablo.  Luis declared that it was “from the sacraments that they receive the blessing and grace of God that they so badly need in order to live and die according to God’s commands…”


Fr. Agustín Ponce de Leon, OFM, and Companions, September 3, 1705, north of St. Augustine
Name(s):             Fr. Agustín Ponce de León, O.F.M. (St. Augustine),
                             Jacinto and Julio (Indian altar boys),
                             Roberto Ibaja
Date:                   September 3, 1705
Place:                 north of St. Augustine On September 3 ^rd, 1705, Father Agustín was returning to his mission, Nombre de Dios Chiquito, when he received word that two young native altar boys, Jacinto and Julio, had been seized during an English/Creek raid on his mission. Father was a large and strong man “with an apostle’s heart.”  He and his native friend, Roberto Ibaja, took off running, following the trail of the captors.
Once they were in earshot, Father threw his arms in the air to show them he had no weapons.  Father asked them to take him instead, and let the two boys go.

 “…And Friar Agustín was shouting, with which a great noise was heard, telling the Creek       to stop their intent and their evil purposes, because there is one God in Heaven who sees         everything; and to let his altar boys go…”

The captors struck Fr. Agustín in the head with an axe.  Father, bleeding profusely, still ran after the captors and the boys, pleading

“…Friar Agustín would not cease in his effort to have them within his reach, shouting for the    love of God that they ought to let the altar boys go and not carry them away, because they      were children without blame…”

The captors killed the boys in front of Father and then killed this loving priest.  When his good friend Roberto returned to carry and move Father’s body for Christian burial, he too was shot down with arrows.
Fr. Agustín is our nation’s first native-born who became a priest and martyr.


Don Patricio de Hinachuba and Companions, April 28, 1706, St. Augustine
Names:               Don Patricio de Hinachuba (Cacique of Ivitachuco, Apalachee)
                             Don Andres (Apalachee)
                             Cacique Stanislaus (Apalachee),
Date:                    April 28, 1706
Place:                  St. Augustine
 
Great Indian chief of the Apalachee mission at Ivitachuco, Don Patricio was a truly remarkable man in our nation’s history.  In his lifetime, he was known for his holiness, integrity and charity. Loved and respected by Indian and Spanish alike, he was called “Cacique of the Poor” (Chief of the Poor).

 He corresponded with both King Charles II and King Philip V about Spanish mistreatment of the Indians – and became known as ‘pen pal of the King’.  He was the defender of the Indians. Once, when Spanish Sergeant Ruy López struck a young child in his tribe for playing too noisily, Don Patricio led the boy and his family and his people to the home of the Spanish sergeant. Don Patricio addressed him,
 
 “[“] Sergeant, you must ask forgiveness to God Father and to all these Indian converts [who are] in front of me for I am their cacique. [ ”]
 
And the Sergeant said to him that he did not know cause or motive for which he should ask God for forgiveness and asked why he should do so. And Don Patricio then gave him [the] answer [:] [“] because you struck God and must ask forgiveness to Him who is in the heavens. [”] But then he made the reply [,] the said Sergeant [,] to tell him that he was crazy because he had never struck God and that God cannot be struck.
And at this Don Patricio put his hand on the shoulder of the said Sergeant and told him:

 "you did strike a blow to God because you struck this boy and because of that you have       to ask for forgiveness to this boy and his family who is here in front and to the other                Indians and to me because I am their Cacique and Enija because we are all Christians            of the same Catholic faith. Because Jesus Christ said that it must be allowed for the                children to approach him and not to be struck like you did.  And he also said that all evil            done to one of these little ones was done to Him and because of that you gave a blow to          God our Lord and must request forgiveness."

And the said Sergeant Ruy López in this circumstance asked forgiveness to God and the boy.”
A group of Creek assailants arrived in St. Augustine before sunrise on April 28, 1706 to attack the surrounding missions “they can cause some damage that will satisfy their allies the English, who are enemies of the faith.” Two elderly Indian chiefs confronted them and were seized: Don Patricio and his good friend and senior chief of Mission San Luis, Don Andres “a good Catholic of daily prayer.”
 
The Creek Indian chief placed a cross before them
 
 “and told them to spit on it and then break it into pieces, and to throw the pieces to the fire    to make a big bonfire with it, and  that  if  they  didn’t  do that of  their  own  accord,
 then  they  themselves  would  be  spat  on,  and their  arms  and  legs  torn  apart,  and            then  burned  in  a  big  bonfire  that  they  were  going  to  light  in order to throw them in it      and cause their death. But the aforesaid senior chiefs, or Enijas, whose names were Don          Patricio and Don Andrés, didn’t give the least sign of fear for the said Creek, because they        are men of integrity and confidence for their example and worthy condition, …
because the only fear they had was the fear of God our Lord, they struck them with their          clubs until they broke all their bones, so that they could no longer remain standing, and            said: “ Since you didn’t want to leave the Cross or spit on it, we will now strike you to death      and spit on you to mock [your religion] and to fill you with shame, and we do this in front of      this Cross, and just as we told you to spit on it and burn it, at this time both of you are spat      on and stricken with clubs, and you will now undergo a painful death, because we [will]            burn you in the same bonfire as we will burn said Cross.”
 
In order to “kill them twice” however, since Don Patricio and Don Andres were still alive after beating them with axes and clubs, the Creek dragged the two 
Apalachee Indian chiefs to the river and thrust their heads in the water to drown them and then they threw them upon the bonfire
 
“even Don Patricio would say that for a short while of pain and death they would reach life      eternal beside God in heaven, and that this was the reason they had no fear, but haste,              because they wanted to be very soon together with God our Lord.  And this what the said        Don Patricio kept repeating, and Don Andrés would not complain, and when the said Don        Patricio spoke, when he finished he [i.e. Don Andrés] would say, “Amen, Amen.”  And thus          they both suffered, but they died without denying their faith.”


Gerardo, Eufemio, and Mario, April 6, 1697, (Jefferson Co.)
Names:                Gerardo (Apalachee man)
                              Eufemio (Apalachee man)
                              Mario (Apalachee man)
Date:                     April 6, 1697
Place:                   near San Juan de Aspalaga (Wacissa, Florida: Jefferson Co.)
 
On April 6,1697, a marauding band of Creek killed three Christian Apalachee men from the mission of San Juan de Aspalaga.  The three Christian Apalachee, Gerardo, Eufemio, and Mario, were men of great faith and service to the Church.   
 
The attackers first beat Gerardo, who was heard several times asking God to forgive his killers. Furious, the Creek began to beat up Eufemio and Mario, demanding they forsake the Cross and return to their former religion.  Eufemio and Mario refused again and again and were eventually killed with knives and clubs.


Eight Apalachee Converts, Summer 1702, Aquirita
Names:                Ramón (Apalachee man)
                             Medardo (Apalachee man)
                             Ágata (Apalachee woman)
                             Mercedes (Apalachee woman)
                             Apalachee woman of unknown name
                             Daniela (Apalachee child)
                             Marcelo (Apalachee child)
                             Teodoro (Apalachee child)
Date:                    late July/early August 7, 1702
Place:                  Aquirita (70 leagues west of St. Augustine) 
 
The English in the Carolinas sent some twenty-five Creek Indians to destroy the native village of Aquirita, where less than twenty native converts lived and farmed. Two Franciscans said a Mass on the site of the burned ruins where the two men, three women and three children were killed.  Following Mass and prayers, the faithful erected a beautiful cross made of oak.  Engraved in the cross were the names of the faithful dead and the date, August 7, 1702.
 

Marcos, Mateo, and Prudencio, 1703, Apalachee Province

Names:             Marcos, Mateo, and Prudencio (Apalachee)
Date:                 1703
Place:                Apalachee Province
Fr. Peter’s two altar boys were named Mateo and Marcos, because when they were baptized they knew the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark very well. 
 
Following Mass at a new Apalachee mission, Father Peter, Prudencio, who carried Father’s things, and Mateo and Marcos were walking toward Mission San Luis when surprised by an attack of English and Creek.  Father was violently seized (and brought back to the Carolinas and tortured for months); Prudencio, a twenty-five-year-old man, was dragged into the woods, clubbed and never seen again.  Mateo and Marcos lifted their arms in prayer; the assailants killed them by cutting off their arms “so they couldn’t pray to God any longer.”
 

Antonio Cuipa and Companions, January 26, 1704, Apalachee Province
Names:               Antonio Cuipa or Antonio Enija (Apalachee),
                             Cui Domingo (Apalachee),
                             Francisco El Chiquito (aka Feliciano) (Apalachee),
                             Fernando (Apalachee)
                             Fr. Juan de Parga Araujo, O.F.M. (Province of Santiago, Galicia)
Date:                  January 26, 1704
Place:                La Concepción de Ayubale, Apalachee Province (Tallahassee) The lead martyr Antonio was an Apalachee Indian. He was a layman—a husband, father, chief, and catechist. He was a carpenter, and he was devoted to St. Joseph. He was a skilled musician (a guitarist as well as a craftsman of flutes). He was also an evangelist, whose zeal and joy brought many native persons to Christianity.

Antonio’s life would end tied to a cross at the mission of La Concepción de Ayubale, where the English led a brutal attack.  Antonio was mocked for his faith and tortured with a fire burning under his feet for many hours.  Near the end, Antonio cried out from the cross.  The Virgin appeared to him at his side!  It was her eyes looking into his, he said, that gave him courage to endure his martyrdom.  His last words were that his body would fall to the earth, but that his soul was going to God.                                                                                                                             
Apalachee Indians Francisco El Chiquito and the Panther (Cui Domingo) were also killed tied to crosses and ridiculed for their faith.  In order to mock the short height of Francisco El Chiquito, the Creek cut his legs off.  The martyr responded that it was fine to do so – he didn’t need legs – because the angels would bring him into Paradise.

Fr. Juan Parga voluntarily accompanied the force that included Antonio, El Chiquito and the Panther to come to the aid of the people at Ayubale.  Before leaving Fr. Parga’s mission, San Pedro y San Pablo de Patale, Fr. Parga, a gifted preacher, spoke several hours to the faithful, emphasizing to them that the defense of Ayubale was defending the very law of God.  Further, anticipating the martyrdoms, Fr. Parga said that this day will be “a day of great rejoicing.”

Although many times the faithful attempted to persuade Father Parga to remain at the Patale mission for his safety, he insisted on joining the mission under siege, for the encouragement of the faithful.   Father said that he “must go and die with his children.”

There was another prominent chief, Fernando, who, following a blow to the head at Ayubale, was thought to be dead.  When he regained consciousness, he was taken prisoner by the Creek, and then killed shortly thereafter when he refused to deny the Cross and spit on it.

“…he said that if they brought him a Cross he would pray before it to ask God our Lord that      they  would cease making raids and killing people… and would convert to the religion and to    the Holy Church of Jesus Christ, and would listen to the words of the missionaries and thus    leave their idols that are nothing but devils that deceive and dominate them, so that when they  died they could be with God and the angels in his Kingdom.”        


Samuel and Eliseo, January 26 - February 15, 1704, Apalachee Provinec
Names:              Samuel and Eliseo (Tocobaga in Apalachee)
Dates:                Jan 26–Feb 15, 1704
Place:                 Apalachee Province
 
One hundred and fifty-five years after Tocobaga Indians killed proto-martyrs Fr. Cáncer and his Dominican companions in Tampa Bay, two Tocobaga Indians were also martyred for the holy Catholic Faith -  that for so long they despised.
 
The English/Creek assaults on the missions continued after their attack on Ayubale January 26.  From mission to mission, the faithful were given the choice to renounce the Catholic Faith and live, or to accept torture and death.  This was the very situation for Samuel and Eliseo, forty-year-old catechists and interpreters (who chose names of the prophets at their baptism).
 
“…they told them that if they continued the said teaching they would kill them and that they had to renounce the Holy Catholic faith, which they professed, for it was a lie, and false, and return to the old beliefs that they had, and that if they did not do this they would take their lives. But  they said that from their mouths there would never come other or more words than the prayers they learned and the holy faith and Catholic catechism that were from the Scriptures and [that they] taught to the other Indians[,] their brothers, and that this they did affirm and that death did not frighten them because it would make shorter their path to heaven. This having been said, they were set upon by the Creeks with great wrath, and[,] holding them, they cut off both their tongues. And they would say to them: now in what form and manner are you going to teach this false religion of yours, now that we have removed the tongues.”
 
The assailants continued the mocking and torture and then beheaded these faithful converts and teachers of the Catholic Faith.
 
Fr. Pedro OFM, and Fr. Lucio, OFM, early 1706, Pensacola
Name(s):            Friar Pedro de Galíndez, O.F.M. (Cádiz, Province of Andalusia),
                             Friar Lucio de Herrera, O.F.M. (Lleida, Catalonia)
Date:                  1706 (possibly before March 1, 1706)
Place:                 Santa María de Galve (Pensacola)
                            buried near the altar in the chapel in the fort of San Carlos de Austria
 
Early in 1706, while walking to the fort in Pensacola:

“ the said Franciscan religious, Friar Pedro de Galíndez and Friar Lucio de Herrera, both            religious were going a little behind them because the said Friar Pedro, already an elderly          man, was  so tired  that he walked  very slowly with  some kind of cane  in  order  to  help          himself,  and  the  other,  Friar  Lucio, would  help  him  to  prevent  him  from stumbling.”
 
The Creek seeing them alone and vulnerable, attacked.  Fr. Pedro was killed with an axe and beheaded him. 
Father Lucio was carrying the Eucharist and made every effort to escape.  He was shot with arrows as he ran, and fell to the ground. 
 
“…they saw that Friar Lucio [was] still alive and was trying to hold some Hosts together with    his hands, because he had with him a ciborium where he carried said Hosts, and to prevent    them from being profaned  by the Creeks,  he thrust them  in  his  mouth (as  many as  he        could)  in order to consume them himself, as he still had some of them in his mouth, and          others [were] all around him on the ground,  but  the  soldiers  picked  them  up  because  the  poor  religious  was  already  dying,  and  he only said that God knew everything and would      forgive him and take him to his glory, and that he was  asking  mercy  for  those  Indians,          who,  due  to  their  tremendous  ignorance  and  misery,  had profaned  those  blessed              Hosts.  But he said no more, and right there he gave up his soul, as his whole body and even  the ground itself were pouring his blood…” 



Antonio, Francisco, Lazaro, and Companion, 1706, Mobile  
Names:                 Antonio (Guale),
                               Francisco (Timucuan),
                               Lazaro (Timucuan),
                               one unknown Franciscan companion
Date:                     1706?
Place:                   Mobila (north of Mobile, Alabama)  Near Chanstang, AL
Reports detail four killed and decapitated at a mission serving Indians of the Mobila tribe.  The four dead were three Indians and a Franciscan.  The identity of the Franciscan is not certain.  
The three Christian Indians had traveled far and risked their lives to bring the Gospel to the native people of Mobile.  The three are Anthonio, Guale native, and Francisco and Lazaro, both Timucuan natives. 
 

 

Two third order Franciscans from Cuba, and two Indian converts, October 8, 1712, near St. Augustine
Names:                Manuel de Orellana (3rd order Franciscan, catechist)
                              Orduño Sanginés (3rd order Franciscan, catechist)
                              Buenaventura (Indian convert)
                              Alberto de la Inmaculada Concepción de la Santísima Virgen María sin PecadoConcebida                                (Indian convert)
Date:                     October 8, 1712
Place:                   Afafa (near St. Augustine)
Three or four Englishmen, along with a group of Creek Indians, invaded the hacienda Afafa, near St. Augustine. The assailants captured two 3 ^rd order Franciscan brothers from Cuba, Manuel de Orellana and Orduño Sanginés, along with two Indian converts, Buenaventura and Alberto de la Inmaculada Concepción de la Santísima Virgen María sin Pecado Concebida.They were told to desecrate the crucifix and deny the faith.When they refused, they were killed.


Married couple, Franciscan friar.  March 1719. St. Augustine Apalachee
Names:                 Luis (Apalachee cacique)
                              Mariana (his wife)
                              Fray Augustín Vásquez (catechist)
Date:                     March 5 or 6, 1719
Place:                   St. Augustine
In the beginning of March of 1719, the English and Creek and Yamassee  raided a farm of Christian Apalachee Indians just outside of St. Augustine, capturing eighteen native people to be sold as slaves. The chief, Cacique Luis and his wife Mariana, were killed on the site because they refused to deny the faith.  Witnesses heard their priest and catechist, Fr. Vásquez say, “I’d rather face death than abandon my sheep here.” His friar’s habit, sandals, rosary beads, and prayer book were found about 100 steps from the farm. The book and habit were bloodstained.



Two Franciscans and an Apalachee man, unknown location likely not far from S. Augustine, April 1719
Names:                Friar Antonio de Luarco (from Oviedo in Asturias)
                              Friar Pedro Menéndez (Havana native, Convt. of Immaculate Conception)
                              Ramón (Apalachee Indian)
Date:                     April 1719
Place:                   not specified, likely in the vicinity of St. Augustine
[Historians are seeking more specificity on this event.]
In the spring of 1719, Franciscan religious from Havana came as delegates to St. Augustine for a meeting of the Franciscan Order of the Province of Santa Elena.  While there, they journeyed along the road to bring the sacraments to the converts living in villages a couple leagues from St. Augustine.  Friar Antonio de Luarco (originally from St. Francis of Oviedo in Asturias) and Friar Pedro Menéndez (Havana native, Convt. of Immaculate Concepcion, along with Apalachee Christian Ramón, did not show up at the village of converts as planned.  The Spanish only found a large wooden rosary and a pectoral cross of the Order of St. Francis, and rags of a habit, which led them to think that the said things they found belonged to the said Friar Antonio de Luarco.



All Saints Day Massacre, St. Johns River, November 1, 1725
Names:                 Patricio
                               Domingo
                               Benito
                               Manuel
                               Miguel
                               Carmela
                               Julia
                               Venancia
                               Ernesto
Date:                     Nov. 1, 1725 (note significant Holy Day)
Place:                    San Juan de Guanacara, T[h]ama, at mouth of St. John’s River
Some thirty to forty Juchi natives, armed by the English, sacked the Yamassee Christian mission of San Juan de Guanacara; they set fire to everything (including the chapel), and they stole pork and maize.
 
The martyrdom “happened on the holy feast of All Saints’ Day, the first day of November, as if to mock this sacrosanct occasion and make fun of it.”The Christian Indians “ all of them together were raising prayers to God our Lord, beseeching the Most High to protect their lives and the lives of their children. But at this moment, destroying the door, the said Juchis broke into the said chapel—the Juchis… pushed all of them out of the chapel, and once they were all gathered outside, they blurted out at them demanding that they renounce the Catholic faith, as that would be the way to spare their own lives. But they said they didn’t want their mouths to deny the faith they held in their hearts.”

 

Juan Yustegue and Companions, November 12, 1727, St. Augustine
Names:               Five natives:
                             Juan Yustegue and wife Soledad,
                             son Antonio;
                             master quarryman Rafael
                             assistant Apolonio
Date:                   November 12, 1727 (?)
Place:                  Nombre de Dios Chiquito, St Augustine
The English Colonel Palmer and Creek allies assaulted the mission of Nombre de Dios Chiquito, just south of San Marcos castle in St Augustine.  Five Indians did not flee and instead tried to put out the fire to their mission
 
“…whose names, were Antonio, which was their baptismal name,  and two other Indians who were old Christians  and worked as mason officers, their trades and baptismal names being the master stonemason Rafael, who had been involved in the construction of the Fort and Castle of San Marcos, and his assistant, named Apolonio, and they all died because they were trying to put out the fires that were already lit, and then the Creek Indians fell upon them and started wounding them with arrows and knives, and finally murdered them with the axes, then tore off the skin and the hair from their heads, and, once they were dead, they were all grabbed and their bodies thrown to the fire that was consuming everything.”
 
“…these Indians now intercede for them before our Lord God in heaven.”
 
 
 
Joseph, December 16, 1728, St. Augustine
Name:                            Joseph
Date:                              December 16, 1728
Place:                             Nombre de Dios, St. Augustine Colonel Palmer and his Creek allies attacked the missions in St. Augustine.  In addition to the five Indians they killed at Nombre de Dios Chiquito, they also killed the Indian man, Joseph, near Nombre de Dios.  They shot him in the back as he was running with the Eucharist.
 
“…baptized Indian named Joseph, in the vicinity of the same aforesaid Mission of Nombre de Dios, who was a sickly, skinny and weak atiqui (translator), who despite not being used to harsh tasks and not having physical strength for them, was always busy keeping the [Mission’s] chapel clean, and would as easily evangelize as maintain all the utensils of the church, which would shine, as clean as he kept them. And on the said day, 16th of December, some Creeks who were marauding around and stalking came to the boundary of the aforementioned Mission, near the chapel, and, when the Indian Joseph saw them, he ran and took out the Hosts from the ciborium, and fled to prevent the Sacred Forms from falling into the hands of the Creeks. But when the latter saw him running, shot arrows at him and wounded him, and once he fell on the ground they killed him with their clubs. Then, upon the arrival of a couple veterans who were patrolling, named Basilio Gonzálvez and Fernando de Jijón, who shot at them, the said Creeks ran away, and there remained Joseph, now dead, with the ciborium and the Hosts under his body.”
 

 
Yamasee martyrdom, Felipe and companions. March 9, 1728. Nombre de Dios. St. Augustine
More than two dozen Yamasee Christian men, women and children, including
Names:                             Felipe (cacique)
                                           Mateo (chief)
                                           Bruno (chief)
Date:                                 March 9, 1728
Place:                               Nombre de Dios
 Before sunrise on March 9 ^th, 1728, two hundred Englishmen with their Creek and Cherokee allies, brutally attacked some eighty Christian Yamassee Indians living at Mission Nombre de Dios, located near the Castle of San Marcos in St. Augustine. 
The Yamassee who refused to renounce the cross of Jesus Christ were killed immediately.


Two Franciscans and native translator, July 1738, along El Camino from St. Augustine
Names:                Fray Miguel Hernández (from Havana, la Purissima and San Francisco)
Fray Joseph Fonton (from Havana, la Purissima and San Francisco)
Esteban (Christian Indian who was their translator)
Date:                     July 1738
Place:                    on Camino Real, en route to doctrina of San Antonio
 
Two Franciscans who were originally from Cuba were travelling on the Camino Real to the doctrina of San Antonio de costa from St. Augustine. The Franciscans and Esteban, their native translator, were killed when they refused to profane their crosses and rosaries. Their bodies were burned; the only surviving traces of them were a silver crucifix and an old wooden rosary.
 
 
 
Juan Bautista, September 3, 1739, south of St. Augustine
Names:                Bautista del niño Jesus (Ybaja Indian)
Date:                    September 3, 1739
Place:                  south of St. Augustine
The English under Oglethorpe and their allied natives invaded St. Augustine in September 1739, but they were resisted by the Ybaja Indians, led by the caciques Juan Ignacio de los Reyes and Bautista del Niño Jesús. Bautista was captured by the Creeks. He was later rescued, though he was on the point of death. He had been told to renounce his faith and spit on the Cross he was wearing.  When he refused, the assailants burned and wounded him. He forgave them because they acted out of ignorance. Bautista was an Indian chief, a translator and catechist.
Bautista was buried under the altar and for many years to follow, the faithful brought their new babies to the altar and prayed that their child would have the faith of Bautista.  So popular was the devotion to this martyr that ten years later, the old Franciscan priest of the mission finally announced that he would not baptize any more babies ‘Bautista’
“which causes great confusion to an old Franciscan religious, [named] Pedro de Alcántara, who goes there to celebrate Mass and baptisms; because this religious refuses to give all the same name of Bautista, because [if he did] then all the Indians in this doctrine would be called in equal manner.”
 
 
 
 
Chief Felipe, Anselmo and Morillo, October 11, 1739
Names:               Chief Felipe and Anselmo (Apalachee)
                             Morillo (Indian or African)
Date:                    October 11, 1739
Place:                  vicinity of St. Augustine
 
On October 2, 1739, four or five Englishmen and a band of about fifty Creek Indians attacked the Apalachee farms a half-league from the city of St. Augustine.
 
During the assault, the Creek held an old Apalachee Indian Chief Felipe, a holy man and good friend of the Franciscans, who served at Mass, was a catechist and taught other natives Spanish grammar. The Creek tore the cross off Felipe’s neck and told him to step on it, and “if he was truly a warrior, that he would spit on it and deny the false religion of the Spanish.”
 
Felipe professed the Faith and would not give in knowing that “he would go to Heaven with God our Lord, his Son Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Francis and the Angels ant the other Indians whom they had killed before and he knows are in the glory and kingdom of God.”
The record states “and when he had said this, and they saw that he wouldn’t deny his religion, but rather was preaching to them, they were so infuriated that they fell upon him and beat him to death.”
 
A relative of Chief Felipe, Anselmo, was regaining consciousness following the blows he had received.  He made his way to Felipe to try to help his chief.  The Creeks also demanded of Anselmo that he too deny the Faith.  When he refused, he too was killed

Another great martyr in this event was named Morillo.  Morillo was killed when he refused to spit and trample on the cross.
 
 
 
Three native men near Nombre de Dios, May 1740, St. Augustine   
Names:                                3 natives
Date:                                     May 1740
Place:                             cornfields next to Nombre de Dios, St. Augustine
 
[Historians seeking more specificity in this event.]
 
At end of May, 1740, three friars were captured by English and their Indian allies. Three baptized Indians were killed.
 
 
 
 
Eladio and Roberto, July 22, 1740, St. Augustine
Names:                  Eladio (Yamasee)

                               Roberto (Yamasee)
Date:                    July 22, 1740
Place:                   chapel of Our Lady of La Leche, St. Augustine
The English under Oglethorpe, “this enemy of Spain and of our Catholic religion and of our faith”, and their allies the Creeks attacked the shrine of Our Lady of la Leche on July 22, 1740. They were beaten back, but not before they burned and desecrated the shrine.
Two Yamassee Indians Eladio and Roberto were found dead of musket wounds within the chapel. Their blood had made a pool on the dirt floor. These Indians had been given the honor and responsibility of caring for the shrine.
“…both of them baptized and of great faith and veneration to the same Virgin Our Lady, and that both of them helped the religious when they celebrated the Masses there, and that they taught the Catechism to the other Indians… They fulfilled all their duties and carried them out and accomplished them with much zeal and great dedication and care, because the said holy image of the Blessed Virgin of the Milk and of the Good and Happy Childbirth was greatly venerated by all, since she was very miraculous and took care of her children at all times and in all things…
…But these two Indians, Eladio and Roberto, as it seems, died before the altar of the said chapel and the holy image of the Virgin Our Lady of the Milk and of the Good and Happy Childbirth, when they were trying to stop the enemies that were ruining and burning everything, and the only resort they had for this was to shoot arrows at the Creek Indians, so they armed themselves with their bows and the arrows they had in their quivers and shot their enemies, and as a result of this defense, five of the said Creek Indians died from the arrows [that were shot at them], and these arrows could still be seen in their bodies. And due to this defense they made, the two of them were killed when they were fighting against the Creeks in order to defend the image of Our Lady the Virgin…and that the Indians Eladio and Roberto died as a result of having been shot by the Creek Indians, it can be known that they died in defense of their faith, when with great zeal they wanted to avoid the destruction of the holy image of the Virgin, which was destroyed by the bullets of the English.”
Six witness testified to their martyrdom by “the Holy Cross and the Gospels.”

Don Gonzalez and Companions, May 23, 1759, St. John's River
Names:               Don Gonzalo (carpenter) (Apalachee),
                             his wife Dona Marta,
                             son Enriquillo,
                             nine companions including two more children (Apalachee);
Date:                    May 23, 1759 (bodies discovered August 21, 1759)
Place:                  west of St. Augustine on St Johns River
Sergeant Major Contreras made a tragic discovery while making his rounds in the surrounding area of St Augustine in August of 1759.  Circling vultures and a terrible odor led him to a ditch where he found a dozen half-burned bodies, three of whom were children.
The surviving witnesses testified to a Creek attack.  These twelve Apalachee Indians refused to deny their Catholic faith.  The assailants killed them with axes and truncheons, and then threw their bodies into a fire.
 
 
 
 
Fr. Lucas de León, OFM, May 25, 1759, between Gainesville and St. Augustine
Name:                  Fr. Lucas de León, O.F.M.
Date:                    May 25, 1759
Place:                  under review: vicinity of Lachua (Gainesville)? vicinity of San Marcos,
St. Augustine?
Father Lucas was a native of St. Augustine.  Father Lucas and another older Franciscan, Fr. Gabriel, along with two young native catechists, were journeying to bring the sacraments to the natives on the two-day stretch from St. Augustine to Lachua (Gainesville).   (The exact location of the martyrdom is yet to be determined.)
A band of marauding Creek attacked this group in May of 1759.  The Christian Indians managed to hide and thereby became witnesses to the martyrdom.  The Creek “beat, taunted, and scalped the Franciscans, leaving them for dead”
After the assailants ran off, the Christian Indians came back to bring the priests for burial, and found that Father Lucas was indeed dead, and Fr. Gabriel had survived. 

 

Antonio the Blessed and Companions, March 22, 1760, Pensacola
Names:               Antonio Bendito, (Anthony the Blessed) (Chicasa Indians)
                             Anselmo,
                             Juan Ignacio the younger and his brother Estaban
                             Juan el Viejo (John the older)
Date:                    March 22, 1760?
Place:                  Pensacola (near the sea)
Among a group of Chicasa Indians who were fishing at the sea near Pensacola, was a Chicasa man known as “the Blessed Indian” or “Antonio the Blessed” because of his holiness and charity.
“… he was very generous and kind, a very devout and faithful Catholic who considered nothing as his own, who would share his maize, his animals and possessions with those who had nothing, and that was the reason why all [the Indians] respected him highly and loved him…”
A group of Cherokee and Talapuche Indians fell upon them for a slave raid.  They began to tie the Chicasa Indians together at the neck with leather straps when a group, led by Antonio the Blessed resisted.  He explained that they helped the Franciscan priests at the Masses and that the Franciscans taught them the things of God, and that therefore they could not go with him.
“the said Antonio, with no fear of them, just stayed there, standing, and went on speaking and preaching to them [as if they were] at church, and told them that they were doing wrong, but that if they repented and asked God’s forgiveness, then the Father, in His infinite mercy and for the great love He had for them, would forgive them as their Father; and he said all this, and he spoke to them in such a way, in the name of all the others and in their stead, to the said Cherokee Indians and to the others that were Talapuche, when they were threatening all the more strongly to kill them all if they did not disavow their faith to go with them. And it was at that time that he [i.e., 
Antonio told them and explained to them that it was better to die for the faith of Jesus Christ and the holy Catholic religion as free servants of God, than to carry a life as their slaves in lands of the English for fear of the harm they could inflict them, no matter how many further offenses and blows they might cause them. But that, if they died for God, they would go to heaven; and, from that point of view, it was a small thing to die for God, because Jesus Christ Himself had died on a Cross in order for them to live with him forever in heaven. He also said that he carried the cross of St. Francis, which is also the cross of St. Antho ny, like his baptismal name, and that he could not disown it; and [then] of the Indians tore it from his neck, and he said to them that he was alive on that cross, and that if they killed him that would make no difference, because he would continue to be alive and preaching from the cross. And then they started striking him and throwing stones at him, and while this happened, the Indian Antonio fell to the ground, but he didn’t stop speaking about the faith of heaven and saying that he was asking God to forgive them, and he was also asking them [his executioners] to allow him to tell them about God and His Holy Mother, the Virgin, and he never stopped preaching and went on speaking about God. And when the others [that were with him] were asked, they all said the same thing as the Blessed Anthony was saying, and they added that they were happy to die, because thus they would be all the sooner with their Father God in the heavens.”
The slavers beat Blessed Antonio, Anselm, Juan el Viejo, Juan Ignatio the Younger and his brother Estaban, and then burned them to death
 
 
Reported martyrdoms associated with Punta Rosa near Pensacola Bay, April 1761           
Date:                                     February 12, 1761 and April 1761
Place:                                    San Antonio de Punta Rasa, (Garcon Point, Pensacola Bay)
[Historians seeking corroborating documentation.]          
There are two purported martyrdom events under study that are associated with an attack on Punta Rasa, near Pensacola.  The first is reported to have occurred in February  1761; the proposed martyrs from February are Eulalia (Tallaposa Indian woman) Alonso de Tames (Spaniard of the garrison) Juan (Spaniard of the garrison) Bernardo Perea (Spaniard of the garrison) and a newborn baby boy. The second is reported to have occurred in April  of 1761; the proposed martyrs from April are Antonio Mejia  Tomas de Avila, Matias de Tarmenazar,  Nicolas (brother of Matias), Jose Fernando, and Gonzalo Bertido.
 
 
 
Elpidio Jose, Alberto and Matias el Chico, April 7, 1761, Pensacola
Names:               Elpidio Jose, Alberto and Matias el Chico (Apalachee interpreters)
Date:                    April 7, 1761
Place:                  Los Santos Cosme y Damian (?), Pensacola
A group of English/Creek attacked Apalachee Indian refugees living in Pensacola on April 7, 1761.  Three devout and faithful Christian Apalachee translators died in defense of the Eucharist in a beautiful chapel built with great love by their priest and fellow natives.
“Without any mercy in their fury so cruel, the three atiquis were killed by them when they tried to protect the cup with the hosts and the tabernacle so that they would not profane them, and in this they seized them right there in front of the altar and altar stone and cut off their scalps and beat them and decapitated them, and finally they burned them with the chapel that they set fire to.”